It's typical of modern comics that there are issues I pick up with fear in my heart.
Fear that the creative team is going to do significant damage to a character I really like.
As I've written before, Adam Strange was my favorite hero when I first became an avid reader of comics.
The idea of a regular guy who wins battles by outsmarting his opponent is a tough one to manage, and that's why Adam is difficult to write.
And the concept of a normal man being the biggest hero on a distant world feels like a classic pulp tale, not a modern science fiction adventure. Is the idea of the hero outdated? (I certainly hope not.)
So his adventures since those original Silver Age stories have been very hit-and-miss with me.
Writer Alan Moore managed a clever update in the pages of Swamp Thing: Adam was a hero but the people of Rann thought he was beneath them. It didn't change Adam's status, though it threw the people of Rann into a bad light.
So now writer Tom King is taking a run in the pages of Strange Adventures. That's a classic DC science fiction title, although Adam almost exclusively appeared in its pages in reprints - his original comic was Mystery in Space. (But I digress.)
So we're seeing two different versions of Adam - the clean, futuristic science hero as drawn by the terrific Evan "Doc" Shaner, and a gritty, more real-world version by the excellent Mitch Gerads.
The story is just beginning here, so we're not sure exactly what is going on. I fear for the future, as so far we're seeing Adam the action hero, not Adam the intelligent hero.
We'll see where it goes, but I suspect every issue purchased will be a test of will for me.
As always, I hope for the best and fear the worst.
Grade: A-
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